service rendering specialist help out and assist in theses paperwork writing academic essay writers custom writing service which makes a big difference

I’ve been asked by a few people who are interested in photography to recommend some equipment.

Let’s preface this with: I’m nowhere near an authority on equipment (or even photography)… I’m just trying to use correctly the equipment I already have, and have no real basis of comparison. But I’ll list out my equipment, and make some recommendations to novices below.

My equipment list:

Body: Canon EOS 60D — I believe it’s either the lowest-grade professional body or the best consumer grade body. Roughly $1000.

Lenses:

Canon 18-135mm f/3.5-5.6 — Probably the lens I use most because it’s pretty utilitarian. It doesn’t do anything amazingly well, but it does everything pretty well. It has just enough of a wide-angle (18mm) and telephoto (135mm) to allow me to compose shots how I want. Mine was packaged with my camera body when I purchased it, so it was a no-brainer. This or something similar is probably a good lens for a beginner.

Canon 50mm fixed f/1.8 (~$200) — Awesome lens in low light and for portraits. Since it’s a fixed lens it’s very fast and can create some amazingly shallow depth-of-field shots. Also very small and easy to lug around without a long lens bumping things. But sometimes you really have to work hard to compose your shot how you’d like since the lens won’t do the work for you (telephoto/wide)

Canon 10-22mm wide-angle (~$500 ebay, ~$850 retail) — I love this lens for wide angle portraits or landscapes. It really distorts things interestingly around the edges. But I do find that I could use my 18-135mm for many things that I use this for, and wish I’d have spent my $500 on telephoto lens or lighting equipment instead.

Lighting Equipment:

Speedlite 270EX II (~$150) — Super small flash that I use wirelessly, and almost never on the camera body unless I’m bouncing flashes off of the ceiling. It’s quirky, and I wish I’d have bought the 430 instead of this flash.

Speedlite 430 EX II (~$300) — Much better flash, and you can rotate the head and bounce the light off walls, dial down the power when appropriate, add gels, etc

Strobist package that’s being shipped as I type, which I’m going to tout as necessary for good portraits even though I don’t have them yet (because my portraits lack due to less-than-stellar lighting, and I’m sure using this as demo’ed on Strobist will improve my shots) (http://strobist.blogspot.com/2006/03/lighting-101-traveling-light.html) (~$100)

light stand

white shoot-through umbrella & umbrella swivel

sync kit

Miscellaneous:

Photoshop Elements (~$199) — An absolute must is having some photo editing software. This one does everything I need it to do (no need for me to go to the full blown PS). Canon also has a software which allows me to edit my RAW photos and then import into PSE, though Lightroom may be an improvement.

Lightroom – Not as necessary as PS or PSE, but cuts time and certainly more recommended for the serious photog.

Tripod (~$50-90) — Simply necessary. Mine is pretty light and has a monopod I’ve used on occasion.

Camera bag ($$ varies) — I’ve got a sweet half-backpack sized, which fits my camera, 2 lenses, flashes, filters and a bunch of miscellaneous things, and I can swing it over my shoulder to bust out my camera pretty quickly. Mine was like $100.

Filters — I have a UV filter for every lens, mostly to protect the actual lens from dust/dirt/fingerprints/etc.

Wish List:

70-200mm or 70-300mm Telephoto lens. I simply don’t take enough shots from a distance to make a telephoto practical to me. I’m into artsy shots more than things that a telephoto would be good for (sports, wildlife, journalistic, etc).

Elinchrom Octa Light bank 74″ indirect softbox.

Ring Flash (likely Orbis http://enlightphotopro.com/strobist-lighting-101/) to use as a portrait flash or macro flash or another similar one (http://strobist.blogspot.com/2013/08/check-out-roundflash-ring-flash-adapter.html)

Depends on how much time you plan to dedicate to photography. I’ve spent probably 1-2 hours per day for 10 months already. But that’s a commitment most people aren’t making, and thus please don’t spend that kind of money starting. Buy a camera body within your budget, a utility lens (18-135mm or something), and a flash… knowing you will have a big time commitment just figuring out how to use them. Especially the flash. Then upgrade as you realize you need something better. Also you’ll need a tripod and a bag. If you want to throw in $100 more, I’d go straight for the Strobist suggested lighting equipment (read the blog too).

You’ll certainly need some photo-editing software, Photoshop Elements or something similar. It’s more important than most any of the equipmnt.

Always ALWAYS shoot in RAW. File size is much bigger and you’ll need a bit bigger flash-cards, but it’s the only way to take full advantage of editing techniques.

Read and watch videos! Blogs, YouTube and web sites on how to compose photos, on how to light photos (strobist.blogspot.com is a favorite), how to edit your photos, etc., are the most valuable resource. YouTube has a ton of fantastic resource videos on how to do certain things.

Remember: It isn’t the camera and equipment that makes photos great… you can take great photos with an iPhone camera. It’s the person behind the lens and the editing.